Lately, all of the absolute land speed record talk that we've been reading about is in relation to the Bloodhound SSC, a beast of a jet/rocket-engined streamliner with visions of 1,200 mph. Right now, though, the record stands at 763 mph...

Breedlove has a long record of breaking records. He was my childhood idol. He is now 76 years old.

I was very into Craig Breedlove too, when he when pushed the Spirit of America to 407 mph in August of 1963. I read about his accomplishment in Popular Science as a third-grader. It was - now that I check the date - one of the last cool things that happened before the Kennedy assassination.

The car used the J-47 jet engine, which at the time was pretty much the hottest engine in the world. Powered the F-104 Starfighter, the B-58 Hustler, and the F-4 Phantom.

Also - I found out later - was the source of the sound of the engine that powered Dr. Quest's (Jonny Quest's dad) private jet airplane.

I hope he survives this one.

9
posted on 01/06/2014 6:32:07 PM PST
by Steely Tom
(If the Constitution can be a living document, I guess a corporation can be a person.)

He was my childhood idol. One of mine, too - I met him at a custom car show in Seattle in the mid 60's, got his autograph and his wife's too. She held the women's land speed record at the time. I was 12.

I’m pretty sure the average fighter jet is off the ground at well below 200. As long as some guy is willing to drive something anywhere near 800 mph, I don’t care what he’s driving. I ain’t riding along.

Don't know why that didn't display. It's a Tucker Sno-Cat and I want one too.

These other people are being frivolous, we're being practical. How about the driver has to load up a little girl who says as they close the cockpit, "I wanna go potty" and you gotta get her to the service station before disaster happens? That's data people can use.

At the time Breedlove broke 600mph, the FIA refused to recognize it as a record not only because the vehicle was not wheel-driven (they have since changed this rule), but also because it had only three wheels. But because it had fewer than four wheels, the FIM did recognize it as a record.

IIRC, the record for wheel-driven vehicles is somewhere in the mid-400mph range.

In the 70’s my Dad took me to see a movie about the speed attempts on water & at the salt flats. I’ve been unable to find any history, title or info on this film. I do rember being full of imagination as I rode my bike as fast as possible.
I’d love to see that movie again with my sons.

I had just turned 12 when he broke the record in ‘63. My Dad gave me a gift subscription to Popular Science was I was 11 or 12 and I kept it going for 20 or so years until it turned into a Parade magazine wannabe. Watching those LSR cars at that age was really excitement! That combined with the Atlas and Thor rockets, then the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo manned spaceflight programs — those were the glory days, huh? It’s so awful that Viet Nam tore the country apart and we are still paying for the ascendancy of the communists as a result.

That thing with the eagle painted on the side is the North American Eagle LSR vehicle. It’s housed about a mile from me. The body is that of an F-104 with the wings removed. The vehicle istelf ...while it was still a plane...has a very interesting history. Gen. Chuck Yeager actually flew in it way back when. The paint job was done by students in the bodywork and auto paint program at Bates Technical College in Tacoma. My wife was privileged to sit in the cockpit.

They are still tweaking it and may make an LSR attempt this year. They do expect to top the current record, even if only until the BloodhoundSSC totally shatters the record sometime this or next year.

I met and had a little chat-up with Craig Breedlove in Sacramento
once. In 1979 I was one of NHRA funny car star Ron Capps’ high
school freshman football coaches and I am acquainted with
Gen Chuck Yeager who is a member of the same sportsmens
(gun) club as I. Rubbing shoulders with those speed demons makes
me wonder why I am still the slowest slug in the garden.

Breedlove was involved in design work for a planned LSR assault by global adventurer and aviation record-setter Steve Fossett. The car, actually an updated Spirit of America, was put up for sale when Fossett was declared dead following a 2007 plane crash."

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